This summary covers the European Integration since 1945 section of the course European Politics, taught by Professor Steven Van Hecke. Includes the book, your own notes and slides. With this summary, I was able to achieve a score of 15/20.
Samenvatting European Politics jaar 2023-2024 KU Leuven
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Politieke Wetenschappen En De Sociologie
European Politics (S0A48C)
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SUMMARY EUROPEAN
INTEGRATION SINCE 1945
donderdag 15 februari 2024
Introduction: Why European Integration?
1.1 Treaty History
- Schuman declaration 1950 - rst plan by the French foreign Minister Robert Schuman
for European unity - reconciliation of France and Germany
- Plans for an European Defence community in 1951-52 failed and got replaced by NATO
- Treaty of Paris 1950-51-52 - the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community -
with a High Authority
- Treaties of Rome - 1956-57-58 - the creation of the European Economic Community
and Euratom
- 1979 rst European Parliament elections, agreed upon by the Council of the EU
- Single European Act 1985-86-87 - established European political cooperation, European
Parliament o cially named like so
- Maastricht Treaty - 1990-92-93 (Summit December 1991) the creation of the actual EU
- Treaty of Amsterdam 1996-97-99 - more powers given to the European Parliament
- Treaty of Nice - 2000-01-03 - attempts at an European Constitution, failed - Convention
2002-03 -> Constitutional Treaty 2003-04-(2005)
- Treaty of Lisbon - 2007-07-09 - establishing of the current form of the EU - compromise,
role of the Commision, basic rules for the EU established
- Extras: Fusion treaty, Schengen, Fiscal Compact…
1.2 How powerful is the EU as a political system?
- How question = decision-making
power - how in uential is your decision Local council UN Security Council
going to be?
- What question = competences - what
Decision-making power
can you talk about?
- Treaties gave more competences and
more decision-making power to the EU
- E.g. unanimity now required for
nances, enlargement.. etc whereas
earlier it was much more omnipresent
- Focus: Treaties, Geographical
enlargement, Crises - monetary,
migration crisis, COVID…
- Limits: Gender - exceptions: Thatcher
competence
or Merkel; West-European focus - this
although there has been a shift of the
center of the EU to the East, more and more in the 3 paradigms listed down
- Paradigms:
1
fi fi ffi fl fi
, - 1950-90 - Cold War paradigm - Pax Americana, Germany: Westbindung - rather on the
side of the EU and NATO and losing a part of its territory than staying united and being
neutral - Konrad Adenauer
- 1990-2016: Post-Cold War paradigm - globalization - trade with China and Russia - e.g.
Schröder, German Wiedervereinigung, EMU expansion and EU enlargement
- 2016-present: New Cold War paradigm - breaking point: Brexit and Trump getting
elected - strategic autonomy, German Zeitwende, Geopolitics - less reliable on the US,
CN, RU - Russian invasion of Ukraine as a second breaking point - more European army
cooperation in the future?
Why do the British want to set their own course?
3.1 Current issues
- Not For EU-labels - made to be, in theory, sold in Northern Ireland and not slip into the
EU’s internal market, of which NIE is a part of due to the Good Friday agreement (with no
border control)
- British wanting to preserve their own internal market without any checks across the Irish
Strait
3.2 The long 1970s
- Arguments of Charles de Gaulle why the UK should not join:
- Island, maritime, orientated on 3rd countries - British Empire, di erent political culture
- Context: French-German reconciliation:
- Visits: Reims cathedral (destroyed in WWI) and Compiegne
- Verdun - another link to WWI
- A very good partnership between the French and the Germans, ususally, not like today
- Mitterand and Kohl’s handshake - spontaneous?
- The long 1970s:
- period 1969-1984 from the resignation of Charles De Gaulle (April 1969) until
- Commission President Jacques Delors (januari 1985)
- Margaret Thatcher in the UK (1979-1990)
- Preparation for the Single European Act (1986) and the Treaty of Maastricht (1991)
- Ups and downs:
- 1. Enlargement
- 2. Institutional reform
- 3. Policy areas
- Kick-o : Summit of The Hague (1-2 December 1969) - following De Gaulle’s resignation
and death
- Dutch Council Presidency
- relaunch of further integration
- new French-German tandem: Georges Pompidou – Willy Brandt
- Brandt - Ostpolitik - reuniting Germany by the means of European integration
- ‘completion, deepening and enlargement’ of the internal market
- Enlargement UK/DK/Ireland/ - not Norway, voted out in a referendum
- Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) - rst plans, 20 years before the actual
implementation of the euro - call for monetary coordination
- European Political Coordination (EPC) = foreign a airs
- Davignon Report - European political cooperation - foreign policy coordination
- Still very intergovernmental (member states intended to do it)
- Enlargement 1973:
- 1952-1973: ECSC/EEC/Euratom 6 founding member states
2
f fi ff ff
, - 1970-1973: negotiations accession UK, Ireland, Denmark and Norway mainly because of
economic (internal market) reasons
- Divisive issue within Conservatives and Labour - some for, some against - used in
Thatcher’s campaign
- Pompidou French referendum 1972 (1992; 2005) — if the UK should join the European
structures
- 1974 change of power Heath (Con) -Wilson (Lab) - Wilson fails to form a government,
afterwards he calls new elections, which he wins due to the referendum promise
- Renegotiation (1974-1975) + referendum
- referenda Norway 1972 (1994); Denmark 1972; Ireland 1972
- Economic (oil) crisis in the meantime (due to the Yom Kippur War
- Beginning rise of Euroscepticism
- Michel Barnier: campaigned for UK accession inside France to let the UK join
- June 5, 1975 - UK referendum, Thatcher campaigned heavily for Europe and went strictly
on the divided Labor party
- Common market referendum 1975:
- initiative Labour government
- legal basis: Referendum Act 1975
- consultative but politically binding question: “Do you think that the United Kingdom
should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?”
- Labour government divided and oppostion (Conservaties) in favourTurn-out 64%,Yes
67,2% versus No 32,8%
- No major regional di erences - in contrast to Brexit
- 1st UK referendum and only one in 20th century
- Other referenda: 2011: reform electoral system; 2016: Brexit
3.3 The long 1970s - EU focus
- Summit of Paris (October 1972)
- “to transform the whole complex of … relations [betweenmember states] into a European
Union” - already an Union long before its establishment at Maastricht
- Summit of Paris (December 1974):
- Valery Giscard- Helmut Schmidt (Gaulist president and the German chancellor
- European Council (cf. Treaty of Lisbon: EU institution)
- A Chefsache - importance of the heads of government
- Direct election European Parliament (foreseen 1978, due to delays nished in 1979)
- Began with the Treaty of Luxembourg 1970 - gave the EP a more in uential role in
budgetary issues, given increased powers in the Treaty of Brussels 1975
- European Court of Auditors - checking if the Community meets budgettary expectations
- Tindemans Report (December 1975) - report on European integration
- Politically rst mention of the European Union, never materialized to nish any further
preparations for it AT THE TIME
- Plans: Bringing institutions closer to each other, single decision making center, single
foreign policy
- Policy areas:
- Monetary policy: - the blueprint for the Euro laid in the 1970s
- December 1969 Summit The Hague
- October 1970 Plan Werner (7 steps in 10 years)
- August 1971 end of Bretton Woods - failure, leads to the devaluations of the currencies -
DM, Franc
- Raymond Barre - plan for short term loans when facing insolvency to block the need for
devaluations
- April 1972 currency snake - bands of 2,25 percent for currencies to move relative to their
central rate against the US dollar
- December 1978 start European Monetary System (EMS) - basket of national currencies;
8 member states join Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) = European Currency Unit (ECU)
3
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